The Beaches | |
---|---|
Neighbourhood | |
![]() Aerial view of The Beaches in 2023 | |
![]() Vicinity | |
Coordinates: 43°40′02″N79°17′50″W / 43.667266°N 79.297128°W | |
Country | Canada |
Province | Ontario |
City | Toronto |
Government | |
• City Councillor | Brad Bradford |
• Federal M.P. | Nathaniel Erskine-Smith |
• Provincial M.P.P. | Mary-Margaret McMahon |
The Beaches (also known as "the Beach") is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is so named because of its four beaches situated on Lake Ontario. It is located east of downtown within the "Old" City of Toronto. The approximate boundaries of the neighbourhood are from Victoria Park Avenue on the east to Kingston Road on the north, along Dundas Street to Coxwell Avenue on the west, south to Lake Ontario. [1] The Beaches is part of the east-central district of Toronto.
The commercial district of Queen Street East lies at the heart of the Beaches community. It is characterized by a large number of independent speciality stores. The stores along Queen are known to change tenants quite often causing the streetscape to change from year to year, sometimes drastically.
The side streets are mostly lined with semi-detached and large-scale Victorian, Edwardian, and new-style houses. There are also low-rise apartment buildings and a few row-houses. Controversy has risen in recent years over new development in the neighbourhood that is changing the traditional aesthetic, with denser housing causing some residents to protect the traditional cottage-like appearance of the homes with heritage designations for some streets. [2]
There is an extensive park system along the Waterfront (with Kew Gardens being the only one that extends up to Queen Street) as well as a parks that follow a ravine (partially buried) that bisects the neighbourhood from North to South at Glen Manor Road. Kingston Road is a four-lane road along the northern section of the neighbourhood. Woodbine Avenue is a five-lane road originating from Lake Shore Boulevard at the Lake Ontario shoreline, running north. It is primarily residential.
The beach itself is a single uninterrupted stretch of sandy shoreline bounded by the R. C. Harris Water Treatment Plant (locally known as the water works)[ citation needed ] to the east and Woodbine Beach Park (a small peninsula in Lake Ontario) to the west. A long boardwalk runs along most of its length with a portion of the Martin Goodman Trail bike path running parallel. Although it is continuous, there are four names which correspond each to approximately one quarter of the length of the beach (from east to west): Balmy Beach, Scarboro Beach, Kew Beach and Woodbine Beach. Woodbine Beach and Kew-Balmy Beach are Blue Flag certified for cleanliness and are suitable for swimming. [3] The park and beach areas of the neighbourhood are known to be animal friendly and offer both on and off-leash dog parks. [4] The neighbourhood also serves as a home to Toronto wildlife. Most recently, Woodbine Beach has become a home to a family of red foxes that have made their den underneath the boardwalk. [5]
In the 2006 Canadian census the Beach was covered by census tracts 0020.00, 0021.00, 0022.00, 0023.00, and 0024.00. According to that census, the neighbourhood has 20,416 residents, a 7.8% increase from the 2001 census. Average income is $67,536, well above the average for Toronto.[ citation needed ]
The neighbourhood is located to the East of Toronto's downtown, from Coxwell east to Victoria Park. The lakefront is divided into four sections; Woodbine Beach to the west, Kew Beach and Scarboro Beach in the centre, and Balmy Beach to the east. It is four beaches which give the neighbourhood its name and defining principal characteristic. Until Lake Shore Boulevard was extended to Woodbine Avenue in the 1950s, Woodbine Beach was not a bathing beach, but rather a desolate wooded area known as The Cut. And Woodbine Avenue was the western boundary of the neighbourhood. While the official City northern boundary ends at Kingston Road, the area to the north has become known as the 'Upper Beaches' according to real estate marketers. The area bounded by Queen Street, Woodbine and Kingston Road is nicknamed the 'Beach Triangle'.
Ashbridge's Bay is a small body of water that was once part of the marsh that lay east of Toronto Islands and Toronto Harbour. [6] The bay is named for the Ashbridge family that once lived nearby on a farm. Infill to form the Port Lands and building of the water treatment plant shrunk the size of the bay to the area between the Port Lands and Woodbine Beach. [7] The current bay is surrounded by marinas, the treatment plant and a small tree lined section along Lake Shore Boulevard East such that the original natural shoreline has disappeared completely.
The name of the community is the subject of a long-standing dispute. Some long-time local residents assert that "the Beach" is the proper historical name for the area, whereas others are of the view that "the Beaches" also has at least equal historical provenance and is additionally the more universally recognized neighbourhood name, particularly by non-residents. All government levels refer to the riding, or the ward in the case of the municipal government, as Beaches-East York. [8] As well, for research and information management purposes, the City of Toronto government officially categorizes the neighbourhood as "the Beaches". [9]
The dispute over the area's name reached a fever pitch in 1985, when the City of Toronto installed 14 street signs designating the neighbourhood as "the Beaches". The resulting controversy resulted in the eventual removal of the signs, although the municipal government continues to officially designate the area as "the Beaches". [1] In early 2006 the local Beaches Business Improvement Area voted to place "the Beach" on signs slated to appear on new lampposts over the summer, but local outcry caused them to rescind that decision. [10] The Beaches Business Improvement Area board subsequently held a poll (online, in person and by ballot) in April 2006 to determine whether the new street signs would be designated "the Beach" or "the Beaches", and 58% of participants selected "the Beach" as the name to appear on the signs.
In fact, the two names have been used to refer to the area since the first homes were built in the 19th century. In his book, Accidental City: The Transformation of Toronto, Robert Fulford, himself a former resident, wrote: "the historical argument for 'the Beaches' as a name turns out to be at least as strong as the historical argument for 'the Beach'". "Pluralists" hold that since the area had four distinct beach areas, using the singular term is illogical. Those preferring the singular term "Beach" hold that the term has historically referred to the area as the four distinct beach areas merged. [10]
Historically, there are or were a number of institutions that used the term "Beach" in the singular, including the original Beach telephone exchange (1903 - 1920s), the Beach Hebrew Institute (1920), the Beach Theatre (1919 to the 1960s), and the Beach Streetcar (1923–1948). The singular form has also been adopted by the local historical society, which is called the Beach and East York Historical Society (from 1974). [11] There are also numerous examples of early local institutions that use the plural form "Beaches", such as the Beaches Library (1915), the Beaches Presbyterian Church (1926), the Beaches Branch of the Canadian Legion and a local war monument in Kew Beach erected post WWII by the "Beaches Business Men's Association". [12]
In May 2009, the City of Toronto started the installation of "the Beach" signs along Queen Street. [13]
Despite the naming controversy, most Torontonians recognize either name as referring to this particular neighbourhood, even though there are several other beaches located elsewhere in the city.
Originally a heavily wooded area dotted with private homes and swampland, the current shoreline and the Kew Gardens private park grounds were appropriated by the Toronto Harbour Commission in the early 1900s. The current beach was artificially enlarged and made continuous in 1930 with the use of wooden groynes. The public boardwalk and facilities were officially opened to the public in 1932.
The beach is diminishing as the sand is continuously pushed by lake currents from east to west. Historically, the sand was, and to a lesser degree still is, replaced by new sand generated by the erosion of the Scarborough Bluffs to the east. This source of sand has been diminished by municipal efforts to reduce erosion of the bluffs, and groynes constructed of rocks have been used to stabilise the shoreline.
In the early 1900s, the neighbourhood was the site of several amusement parks - Victoria Park (1878-1906), Munro Park (1896-1906), and Scarboro Beach Park (1907-1925). Today, their namesakes remain as streets. Beginning in 1890s there was a ferry service (Victoria Park Ferry) to the area (in addition to streetcar service on Queen Street) from Yonge Street and ended after the closure of the parks.
Kew Gardens is a medium-sized park in the neighbourhood running from Queen Street to Lake Ontario, and includes the Alex Christie Bandstand for concerts. Every July, the neighbourhood celebrates the Beaches International Jazz Festival, drawing thousands to the area. However, now most of the performances occur at Woodbine Beach Park.
Another notable site in the area is the R. C. Harris Water Treatment Plant, which has been featured in several television programs, as well as in the films "Half Baked", "In the Mouth of Madness", "Four Brothers" and "Undercover Brother", and in Michael Ondaatje's novel In the Skin of a Lion .
The Beaches contains a number of heritage buildings that are either designated under the Ontario Heritage Act , or listed in the City of Toronto's inventory of heritage buildings, including:
Secular English first language public schools are operated by the Toronto District School Board (TDSB). Publicly funded English first language separate schools are operated by the Toronto Catholic District School Board. In addition to TCDSB/TDSB, applicable residents of the Beaches may also attend schools operated by the Conseil scolaire Viamonde (CSV), and the Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir (CSCM). Both school boards are a French first language public school boards, the former being secular, the latter being be a separate school board. However, neither CSCM/CSV operate a school in the Beaches. There are also a number of privately funded and Montessori schools in the neighborhood.
The following schools operated by the Toronto District School Board that offers primary education:
The following schools are technically outside of the Beaches neighbourhood, but due to their close proximity to the area serve many Beaches residents. They include:
The following schools operated by the Toronto Catholic District School Board that offers secondary education include:
The following schools operated by the Toronto District School Board that offers primary education include:
The following Catholic school is technically outside of the Beaches area, but serves many Beaches residents:
The Beaches community is served by several locally distributed newspapers including the Beach Metro Community News and the Beach-Riverdale Mirror (run by the Metroland subsidiary of the Toronto Star) and the "Beaches Living" magazine.
The area is in the political riding of Beaches—East York, and is represented in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by Mary-Margaret McMahon, since June 2022. Federally, the riding elected Liberal Nathaniel Erskine-Smith in 2015.
The area's City Councillor is Brad Bradford and the area's TDSB school trustee is Michelle Aarts. Both were first elected in October 2018.
Streetcars heading to and from downtown Toronto run east-west along Queen Street East (route 501) as well as along Kingston Road (routes 502 and 503) and Gerrard Street East (route 506), and a bus line runs north-south along Woodbine Avenue to Woodbine subway station (route 92). Another north-south bus line snakes its way along several side streets before making its way to the Main Street subway station (route 64). A third bus line runs north-south down Coxwell Avenue from Coxwell subway station and then turns east travelling the entire length of Kingston Road as far as Victoria Park Avenue (only from 7PM-5AM on weekday evenings, and 24hrs on weekends) (route 22A).
Queen Street is a major east–west thoroughfare in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It extends from Roncesvalles Avenue and King Street in the west to Victoria Park Avenue in the east. Queen Street was the cartographic baseline for the original east–west avenues of Toronto's and York County's grid pattern of major roads. The western section of Queen is a centre for Canadian broadcasting, music, fashion, performance, and the visual arts. Over the past twenty-five years, Queen West has become an international arts centre and a tourist attraction in Toronto.
Gerrard Street is a street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It consists of two separate parts, historically referred to as Lower Gerrard and Upper Gerrard. The former stretches between University Avenue and Coxwell Avenue for 6 km, across Old Toronto. The latter portion starts 300 m north of Lower Gerrard's eastern terminus and runs between Coxwell Avenue and Clonmore Drive, between Victoria Park Avenue and Warden Avenue, in Scarborough for another 4 km.
Beaches—East York is a federal electoral district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1988. This riding is situated east of Toronto's downtown.
Kingston Road is a major arterial road in Toronto and Durham Region, Ontario. It is the southernmost major (mainly) east-west road in the eastern portion of Toronto, specifically in the district of Scarborough, and runs east to Ajax in Durham. Until 1998, it formed a portion of Highway 2. The name of the street is derived from Kingston, Ontario as the road was the primary route used to travel from Toronto to the settlements east of it situated along the shores of Lake Ontario; in the west end of Kingston, the road was referred to as the York Road until at least 1908, and is today named Princess Street.
Lake Shore Boulevard is a major arterial road running along more than half of the Lake Ontario waterfront in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Prior to 1998, two segments of Lake Shore Boulevard were designated as part of Highway 2, with the highway following the Gardiner Expressway between these two sections.
Riverdale was a provincial riding in Ontario, Canada that existed from 1914 to 1999. It occupied an area east of the Don River from the city limits just north of Danforth Avenue south to Lake Ontario. It was named after the neighbourhood of Riverdale. In 1999 a major reduction in Ontario seats resulted in Riverdale being merged with part of East York into a larger riding called Broadview-Greenwood.
Don Valley Village is a neighbourhood in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the former suburb of North York. Located north of Highway 401 and bisected by Don Mills Road, it is bounded by Sheppard Avenue to the south, Leslie Street to the west, Finch Avenue to the north and Highway 404 to the east. Like the nearby Don River Valley, the neighbourhood has hill and dale topography.
Old East York is a district of the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It consists of the southern, urban, portion of the former borough of East York. Old East York is continuous and functionally integrated with the old City of Toronto, bounded by the old municipal boundary between East York and Old Toronto on the south, by the Don River Valley on the west and northwest, by Taylor-Massey Creek on the north, and Victoria Park Avenue in the east.
Beaches—East York is a provincial riding in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It elects one member to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. It was created in 1996 from parts of Beaches—Woodbine (95%), Don Mills (40%), and York East (20%).
Beaches—Woodbine was a provincial electoral district in Ontario, Canada. It was created in 1967 by merging the former ridings of Woodbine and Beaches.
Kew Gardens is a large park in The Beaches neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The park stretches from Queen Street East to Lake Ontario at Kew Beach.
Eastern Avenue is an east-west street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It runs from just east of Parliament Street in the downtown to just west of Coxwell Avenue, near the Beaches neighbourhood. Originally Eastern crossed the Don River at the Old Eastern Avenue Bridge, but that bridge was disconnected in 1964. Today, Eastern's east and west halves cross the Don River north of the old alignment via a large bridge with ramps connecting to the Don Valley Parkway, and this viaduct forks out and becomes the eastern terminus of both Richmond and Adelaide streets.
The Upper Beaches is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is directly north of the Beaches area. It stretches from Coxwell Avenue in the west to Victoria Park in the east. The southern border is Kingston Road, while the northern boundary is generally considered to be the Canadian National Railway tracks between Gerrard Street and Danforth Avenue. The western part of the area was originally called Norway, and the larger area was once part of the Town of East Toronto. The name "Upper Beaches" was first used by developers and real estate agents around the period of 2001 to 2003 for the selling of houses on redeveloped land in the area, and was used as a marketing tag to attract buyers. The area was never considered part of the Beaches neighbourhood but was close to it. The city's current name for this area is East End Danforth, though that is rarely used. The city also includes the buildings along and just north of Danforth Avenue in the neighbourhood. The western portion between Woodbine Avenue and Coxwell is referred to by the city as Woodbine Corridor.
East Danforth, also known as Danforth Village, is an informal neighbourhood in the east end of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located on the eastern part of Danforth Avenue, from the eastern edge of Greektown by Greenwood Avenue to the boundary of Scarborough at Victoria Park Avenue. The area is covered by two business improvement associations, Danforth Village and Danforth Mosaic. To the north of the neighbourhood is Old East York, once a separate municipality, but today closely integrated into the area. The southern border is the railway tracks, beyond which is Leslieville and the Upper Beaches.
Birch Cliff is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the eastern part of the city, part of the district of Scarborough running along the shore of Lake Ontario atop the western part of the Scarborough Bluffs. Birch Cliff has a large Irish population. About one-third of Birch Cliff residents are of Irish origin.
Woodbine Avenue is a north–south arterial road consisting of two sections in Toronto and York Region in Ontario, Canada.
Turning loops of the Toronto streetcar system serve as termini and turnback points for streetcar routes in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The single-ended streetcars require track loops in order to reverse direction. Besides short off-street track loops these can also be larger interchange points, having shelters and driver facilities, or be part of a subway station structure for convenient passenger interchange.
Lake Ontario's Woodbine Beach is the largest of the four beaches in the Beaches in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located along Lake Shore Boulevard at the foot of Woodbine Avenue, it is next to Ashbridge's Bay and Kew-Balmy Beach. Woodbine beach is the westernmost beach in the Beaches, and the series of beaches extend east until the RC Harris Water Treatment Plant. The beach runs parallel to the boardwalk and the Martin Goodman Trail and is part of Woodbine Beach Park.